Baseball Throwing Development

We do a ton of medicine ball throws for our baseball throwing development programs during the off-season training months and then cut back when the season rolls around. It’s something that has been a staple in all of our rotational athlete’s programming over the past 10 years.
Med balls can really play a role in an athlete’s trunk acceleration, rotation, lead leg mechanics and an overall kinetic chain development. Although incredibly important, realistically, this is just a fraction of an athlete’s training and we cannot neglect the fact that strength training is critical for the development of throwing athletes…

Justin Finan – Professional Pitcher

We bring you Justin Finan. Justin is demonstrating some of the medicine ball throws he’s been programmed for on various days during the week of his off-season training. He’s such a strong dude, so strength numbers weren’t an issue, but didn’t move fast, well.
Justin had always struggled with velocity but over the past two years, he’s made significant mechanical changes to his throwing motion as well as big power gains in the weight room! This allowed him to make incredible jumps in mound velocity, a combination of High Level Throwing Patterns, Strength, VBT, Mobility and the use of Medicine Balls.
Recently, Justin had a huge breakthrough, sitting 92mph and topping out at 93mph off the mound! Really exciting stuff!Force Production
Justin crushes a 600lb Trap Bar Deadlift for 3 reps.

Rate of Force Production

How strong is strong enough? At what point do we shift our focus to power development? In Justin’s case, his strength numbers were increasing, but his velocity was stagnant. As a result, we transitioned his training into a more Velocity Based Training Routine which include the various medicine ball throws, both on the dominant and non-dominant side.Stability Ball Squeeze MB Throws

Double Hop to Pitcher MB Throw

Pitcher MB Throw

Soccer Overhead MB Throw

Justin Finan Training Clip

Take-Home Message

Strength matters. We need to lift heavy but still be able to move really well in our respective position. We also can’t underestimate velocity based training and rate of force production development. Simple tools such as the medicine ball is critical and may play more of a role than you think, if you’re utilizing them appropriately. Standard use of these medicine ball throws were anywhere from 2-5 sets of 3-6 reps @ 100% RPI (Rate of Perceived Intensity).